Grab Bag, or An Assortment of Miscellaneous Items

I have been lazy and thus have a lot of random stuff to write about, so, being the considerate author that I am, I shall divide this entry into sections for the reader’s convenience. Your welcome.

1. Inter-Views from the Top
Well, if nothing else I have been getting a lot of interview practice. I’ve had interviews for a variety of different jobs, the most recent of which took place at a leading agency, to remain nameless (just in case), the headquarters of which can best be described as a futuristic night club. White sterile walls complete with deep purple lighting and abstract art. And though I didn’t land that job, I at least can add to my Celebri-sightings list as while I was waiting, I saw Bradley Cooper in the lobby. You know him as Rachel McAdams’ jerk boyfriend from Wedding Crashers. This was actually a weird coincidence because I had just completed watching Kitchen Confidential, a cancelled Fox sitcom, in which he starred, on Hulu. In another interview at a production company, I was told that they had a Harvard undergrad interning for them and that he knew me and even had a picture of me on his desktop. I was freaked out due to the fact that I certainly did not know him. Stalker? Sadly, no. Just a Crimson photographer who covered the Man and Woman of the Year events.

2. All Set
When I am not interviewing, I have been working for free (read: whoring myself out) on small productions for friends and friends of friends. I just got back from one today that was abominable to say the least. We were there for three hours before the camera even rolled. At least the actors were good: Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall and Julia Duffy from… a lot of random stuff. (NB: I don’t count people who I work on set with as “Celebri-sightings” because they aren’t really sightings per se.) Last week I helped my friend Bobby on a shoot he was DP-ing, which for those of you who don’t know film stuff means he was shooting it. (i.e. what Jon Peter did for my thesis.) It was a pretty cool film, a fictional short based on the Beatles controversy about replacing George or whichever one of them the urban legend is about. I could not help but think of Anna and Sarah and the posters I came to know so well. Even cooler was that I got to Grip, which is something I’ve never done before. Basically it means I helped carry and set up all the equipment. Thank gosh I’m freakishly strong. Now I can say I’ve worked in pretty much every department on a film set.

3. Not so Disturb-ing
On Tuesday, I went to a taping of the new Fox sitcom, Do Not Disturb. Tickets to a lot of shows are free, the only downside being that it’s a full afternoon/evening commitment from about 4-10 PM. But it was totally worth it. They have a “fluffer” guy who is basically a stand up comedian who warms up the audience and keeps them energetic throughout the show. And since they went extra long due to technical delays, they even bought us all pizza. And chocolate. Yum. But that wasn’t the coolest part. The shows stars Jerry O’Connell, who is adorable, and Niecy Nash, who is hysterical, among other funny/hot actors. And THAT’S not even the coolest part. The coolest part is that the creator/director of Do Not Disturb is none other than Jason Bateman, whom I love, so he was about 20 feet from me the entire night! Oh man, I so wanted to meet him and tell him I had left him a drunken message from Charlize Theron’s phone! (NB: I don’t think I can count these as “sightings” either…)

4. A close encounter of the Harvard kind:
While at Starbucks, I stopped to pet an adorably cute puppy. Said puppy’s owner noticed my crimson flip-flops, embossed with the letter H and asked if they were Harvard flops. I of course said yes, I just graduated. He said, no you didn’t. We proceeded to go back and forth like this for a minute until he exclaimed, “I lived in Pforzheimer!” (NB: he did not say “Pfoho,” which I found odd) Anyway, turns out he just went to his five year reunion, had lived next to Natalie Portman while at school, and to top things off was pretty cute. And oh yeah, he does freelance consulting stuff but had just returned from auditioning for American Idol because he can also sing. I loved this guy already! We’ve since been in minor contact but he suggested we have a Harvard-LA get together, which I think would be super fun. I suggested we invite Natalie.

And while I’m on the subject of Harvard Alums, last night I had dinner with Owais! He’s only in LA until October at which point he heads to New York where I believe he will meet up with his wife. He looks great and is the same great Owais. Oh how I missed him. He says hi, by the way, and wanted to know what you all were up to.

So yeah, that's an update. Read it and weep, suckers.
(I don't know why I wrote that.)